JERUSALEM — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday issued a statement calling the Holocaust "the most heinous crime" against humanity in modern times and expressing sympathy with families of the victims.

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The statement, on the eve of Israel's observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, was the first of its kind by a Palestinian leader, and appeared to be part of an effort to reach out to Israelis after a reconciliation deal reached last week between Abbas' Fatah movement and the militant Islamist group Hamas that prompted Israel to suspend U.S.-brokered peace talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Abbas' declarations, saying that they were meant to "placate international public opinion" after the Palestinian leader had made a pact with Hamas, a group that "denies the Holocaust while trying to create another Holocaust by destroying the state of Israel."

Abbas' statement on the Holocaust came a day after the Palestinian leader said that the planned unity government under his leadership would recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Since the announcement of the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, analysts have debated whether the deal might meet conditions set by the group of Middle East mediators known as the Quartet — the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — for a Palestinian government to qualify for diplomatic recognition. Those conditions are recognition of Israel, nonviolence and adherence to previous agreements.

The statement by Abbas emerged from his meeting a week earlier with Marc Schneier, an American rabbi who heads a group that promotes Muslim-Jewish understanding. Schneier had suggested that Abbas make a statement to mark the annual Holocaust commemoration.

Denials or attempts to minimize the Holocaust, which saw the systematic killing of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II, are widespread in the Arab world.